CALGARY, Alberta -- The first game after the All-Star break was far from crisp.

Neither the Detroit Red Wings nor Calgary Flames skated well Tuesday. It was clear, early on, one team would have to grind it out to get a win.

The Red Wings did just that, getting the tie-breaking goal from Jiri Hudler at 11:29 of the third period en route to 3-1 victory at the Saddledome.

Detroit evened its road record at 14-14-0 as it began a four-game trip to Western Canada and Phoenix.

The Red Wings scored twice in the third period.

Hudler scored his 16th goal of the season by driving to the net and firing in a nice pass off the side of the net from Valtteri Filppula. Hudler is second on the team in goals, behind Johan Franzen, who has 19.

Drew Miller added an insurance goal, his eighth, at 15:58. He parked in front of goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff when he converted a nice pass across the crease from Danny Cleary.

Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard made 27 saves to raise his record to 31-11-1.

The Red Wings led 1-0 after the first period on Cory Emmerton’s fifth goal of the season at 5:57.

Emmerton skated hard to the net and knocked in the rebound of a shot by Jan Mursak, who got a pass from Justin Abdelkader. Detroit’s fourth line was its most energetic and dangerous during the first couple of periods.

Mursak was inserted into the lineup because Tomas Holmstrom experienced a bad reaction to Synvisc injections he received in both knees last week. He hopes to play Thursday in Vancouver.

It was Mursak’s third game after returning Jan. 12 from a broken ankle.

The Flames got a power-play goal from Mike Cammalleri at 1:59 of the second period to tie it 1-1. Cammalleri, a Michigan product, backhanded in the rebound of a shot by Alex Tanguay for his second goal in six games since being acquired from the Montreal Canadiens.

The Red Wings prevailed despite going 0-for-3 on the power play. They have struggled on the man advantage in their past 20 games, going 6-for-57 (10.5 percent).

The Red Wings are determined to improve their road record.

"It’s something we’re going to have to fix," forward Todd Bertuzzi said before the game. "In the playoffs, the only way you’re going to win is by making a dent on the road.

"I think sometimes we get away from what we did at home to be successful, that’s play outstanding defense, limit our shots. It seems when we come on the road, they get anywhere from 25 (shots) up. So, that’s one thing we got to eliminate."

Said Howard: "We’re coming upon the homestretch, we got to find a way to fix our game on the road. We’ve been very dominant at home, but to go far in the playoffs we got to play a lot better on the road, keep it more tight-checking and not as loose as we have been."